The UK Data Service is an organization that provides access to a large collection of socio-economic data from the United Kingdom, for the purposes of teaching and research. Data types include quantitative, qualitative, multimedia, and non-digital material from a variety of public and private sources. The service recently made two new microdata samples, taken from the 1961 and 1971 UK censuses, available to the public. These samples include data about a variety of individual and household characteristics that were present during these census periods. This data is anonymous in that it does not identify individuals or households. It is useful because it allows researchers to examine unique combinations of socio-demographic characteristics and to customize their statistical analyses. The smaller sample sizes (.95%, 1%, & 5% of the census sample) are openly accessible to the public; a larger sample size (9%) is available through a restricted/secure access.

Happy New Year! Abigail Geiger at Pew Researcher Center wrote an informative article summarizing public opinions on 17 issues. They range from political values, Trump’s presidency, gender differences, automation, police work, Europe’s asylum applicants, refugees and climate change. 86% of policemen and policewomen say the public does not understand the risks and challenges of their work. Meanwhile about eight-in-ten Americans say they understand. These numbers show how strikingly different people’s views are. Reviewing these findings help us better understand our society.

OpenICPSR is a self serve data repository for researchers who need to deposit their social and behavioral science research data for public access compliance. Researchers can share up to 2 GB data in OpenICPSR for free. Researchers prepare all data and documentation files necessary to allow their data collection to be read and interpreted independently. They also prepare metadata to allow their data to be searched and discovered in ICPSR catalog and major search engines. A DOI and a data citation will be provided to the depositor after data are published. Depositors will receive data download reports from OpenICPSR. All OpenICPSR data is governed by the Attribution 4.0 Creative Commons License. Server-side encryption is used to encrypt all files uploaded to OpenICPSR. Data deposited in self-deposit package are distributed and preserved as-is, exactly as they arrive without the standard curation and preservation features available to professional curation package.
OpenICPSR offers professional curation package to researchers, who like to utilize ICPSR’s curation services including full metadata generation and a bibliography search, statistical package conversion, and user support. The cost of professional curation is based on the number of variables and complexity of the data.

The Fragile Families & Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) has a redesigned publication archive. This archive features over 650 publications using FFCWS data. It can be searched by keywords, author’s last name, publication type, and a text search of the title and abstract.

On October 12, 2017, the US House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a hearing on issues facing the 2020 Census. Video of the full hearing is available at the site (the hearing is in two parts). Witness statements are available in .pdf format.

About 20 percent of first-generation college students had obtained a bachelor’s degree 10 years after their sophomore year in high school, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). That is 50% lower than continuing-generation college students with at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree or higher. This report utilizes data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS: 2002, https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/els2002/).

The 2017 Midwest Data Librarian Symposium (MDLS) will take place on October 9-10 at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. MDLS started in 2015 and it provides Midwestern librarians working with research data management issues an opportunity to network. It welcomes future data librarians and data librarians outside the Midwest. Registration is now open at http://bit.ly/2wxyyiJ!

Wisconsin Federal Statistical Research Data Center (WiscRDC) is coordinating and hosting remote participation in a free online course, “Understanding Social and Economic Data”, taught by Warren Brown and Lars Vilhuber of Cornell University. It is designed to provide students a detailed overview of the US federal statistical system, where data comes from and how it can be used for research. The course also aims to teach students basic and advanced techniques for acquiring and transforming raw information into social and economic data. It also covers data infrastructure, security clearance, and disclosure review procedures associated required of the Federal Statistical Research Data Center (FSRDC) researchers. It meets once per week for live video and Q&A sessions and offers additional “flipped” content for off-line learning. This course starts on Thursday, August 24, 2017. You should take this course if you are preparing to conduct research in WiscRDC, or if you want a structured initiation to the FSRDC system, and an opportunity to ask questions and work toward developing your own research proposal.

The 2016 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) data is now available from IPUMS Health Surveys. It includes supplemental variables on hepatitis, diabetes, chronic pain, food security, child mental health, heart disease and stroke prevention, tobacco, internet and email usage, and disability. This release also includes 600 variables from the 2015 NHIS cancer supplement. The 2016 American Time Use Survey (ATUS) data was released through ATUS-X. IPUMS CPS released new basic monthly data along with variables from the fertility, education, and voter supplements. IPUMS USA released full count 1910 data, source variables for all modern data, new family interrelationship variables that identify same-sex and cohabiting partners, and several other improvements to the data. Census Editing Procedures Tab is now available from the variable dispaly in IPUMS USA. This tab allows IPUMS users to understand how the Census Bureau edits responses in order to provide more accurate data.